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[Ulfarr]

And I'm done with the weight loss part, 75kg with ~16.8% fat 

Hopefully I won't need to get on a weightloss session again though honestly it was a lot easier once I had a solid plan from a professional and I wasn't just experimenting by myself. I'll still have to follow my nutrition plan but now I'll be free to have 1-2 "cheat" days in between to add some variety and make up for the caloric deficit

On the fitness part, since I last posted here I've been at a 3 days/week workout plan (1 day arms/shoulders, 1 day abs/chest/back and 1 day legs) with each session lasting 1-2 hours. The idea so far was to get myself used to a more rigorous training plan and to start exercise every muscle group regularly. And boy have I been sweating like a pig.

So far I think I'm doing well but I've been having trouble exercising my lats. All my searches end up suggesting pull ups (or some variation of it) but I don't have a good setup for that at home, the bar I have is too narrow for proper posture and its location isn't that comfortable to exercise at due to frequent interruptions from people that want to pass through. Is there any other alternative either with dumbbells or just bodyweight?

Bodywise, my muscles are slowly getting more defined (probably due to the weightloss) and my stomach will now stay fairly flat even after a major meal. That damn belly fat is still there, and it'll probably stay there for some time, but it's getting smaller bit by bit.

On the wrist vs knuckle push ups, I've been doing normal ones for the past 20 days and outside the first few days I didn't have any discomfort. At the moment I'm happy to say my chest/triceps give out before my wrists (minor flex: I'm totaling at about 100 - 130 push ups, divided in sets of 10-30 reps).

[nenjin]

And I'm done with the weight loss part, 75kg with ~16.8% fat 

Nice work!

Is there any other alternative either with dumbbells or just bodyweight?

Bent over dumbbell rows.

Two ways you can do it. One preferentially targets the rear delt more than the lat, the other the lat more than the rear delt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEFHHOCfHgw

That's a video mostly focused on performing the exercise in a way that most people don't do it, in order to avoid a potential hernia. But it should still show you how to perform it none the less.

Any sort of rowing motion where you get your elbows behind your body is going to hit your lats to some degree as well. Kettlebell swings where you keep a slightly bend in your arms engages your lats to provide the braking action on the swing.

Belly fat and love handles are the absolute last thing to go for most guys. You have to get down below 12% body fat if you really want to see your lower abs and not have any love handles. I'm trying to work past that level right now and I'm getting really close but that drop from 12% to 10% honestly takes more time, discipline and nutrional attention than what got you down to 12% from where ever.

[Hanslanda]

Meanwhile in Hans' Calisthenialand I'm working on elbow and palm planks to tone my back and core some, more running, crunches, a few pull ups and curl ups, and as always a neverending tide of pushups. At this point, after a rest day I can do 230-260 over the course of a day. Approximately 30 easily.

[nenjin]

I'd like advice on getting better at pull ups. Still can't do a one. It feels so completely unnatural to me. I struggled with things like the rope climb and pullups in highschool too, while others seemed to have no problems. I get my body weight vs. my strength is an issue, but still. Anyone have any tips who personally went from 0 to 1?

The internet is all "hang from a bar!" as about the only concrete tip I've seen.

[Hanslanda]

I mean, I've been struggling to do 1 1/2 but all I can say is persistence.  Try to do a pull up. Fail. Try again after awhile. Fail again. Eventually step two becomes "Holy shit try another one quick while the soul of Achilles still occupies you."

Maybe do weighted workout targeting the muscles that enable pullups. What is that, trap, bicep, deltoid a bit, and forearm?

[nenjin]

It's basically the entire shoulder girdle, arm and back. Forearms, biceps, triceps, front delt and rear delt in the main, upper and lower traps, rotator cuff, rhomboids. Which is most of what I've been hitting. I feel like I just can't get the right muscles to turn on when I need to, like I'm trying to do it all with my forearms or something.

[NRDL]

Do you have a doorway pull up bar nenjin? Greasing the groove is always gonna be my recommendation to anyone, if they prefer to exercise at home.

And since you can't do a pull up yet, doing jumping negatives will definitely do good work. Make the eccentric as slow as humanly possible. Stopping right before failure, and all that jazz ( assuming you want to do all of your reps and sets in one go as opposed to interspersing them throughout the day ).

And then it's just a matter of increasing the volume of your pull up negatives, on a daily and weekly basis.

[Ulfarr]

Thanks for the info (video and all) nenjin

[nenjin]

I tried jumping negatives in teh squat rack and made a complete ass of myself. Got more than a couple looks. >< Honestly I just need to suck it up and do the work, I haven't actually consistently done any of the movements I should be to get stronger at it. I have a doorway pull bar and it's shit. My knees basically touch the ground and I've ripped it out of the doorway at least once. The squat rack at my gym is high enough, I see a guy doing L-sit pullups on it all the time. I just need to rack it with 45s and put it on the highest pegs.

[NRDL]

I find a bench useful if jumping isn't practical. You don't have any Smith Machines to use? I feel like that would be safer than an actual barbell in a rack.

[nenjin]

If I had a Smith machine or assisted pull up machine I'd be using it for sure.

[nenjin]

"If you knew success was a certainty, what would you be willing to do?"

[Hanslanda]

I just found out I've been running only 1.2 miles and I'm somewhat disappointed. I did it in 10:39 today, a reduction of 26 seconds but... I thought it was closer to 2 miles. Now I gotta add to the route and run much faster.

Running advice? I try to run on the balls of my feet, head up, arms and back engaged but not really moving much. And I do deep, single breaths.

[NRDL]

Run more miles. The longer the distances you run, at a nice, slow-ish, aerobic pace, the faster you get. Technique wise, that's pretty much the same as me. Maybe try swinging your arms a bit more.



As for me today, I maxed out on deadlifts for the first time in over a month. Probably gonna do deficit deadlifts on my volume day.

[nenjin]

I had to skip legs for almost a month after smashing my knee into a coffee table. I'm happy to say though my right knee feels fine, and the pain at the head of my left knee is vastly, vastly reduced.

Oh man, don't skip leg day though. Did 135x5x5 for squats and 95x5, 135x5, 185x5x3 for deadlift on Friday. Today is Tuesday and I'm only just now shaking off the DOMs from it. I was getting close to my previous max deadlift of 225 before I got injured, now I have to work my way back up to it. 185x5x3 was about the limit of what I could do. After another couple weeks I'll be back on track. But man it's amazing how fast you lose strength when you stop working out.

I don't know if I'll ever get to 6 plates on either squat or deadlift. But that's ok. These days I'm way less concerned with how much weight I'm moving and way more concerned with how effectively I do my sets.